Con artists steal $3,000 from two elderly victims

Barely a week after a Bloomfield Township woman claimed she was swindled out of $10,000 by a phony IRS agent, two more residents filed similar police reports.

“It is very unfortunate these professional scam artists are able to find and intimidate these vulnerable individuals,” Police Lt. Dan Edwards said about the latest incidents.

On July 1, officers spoke with a 73-year-old resident from the 1300 block of Bramblebush who said she was just “scammed” over the phone. The resident said she received a call from a person who claimed to be a law enforcement agent.

The phony agent told the woman that she had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear for a grand jury. He then took the woman’s credit card information to pay for the bond, telling the woman that no charges would be applied to the card if she showed up to court in three weeks.

A short time later, the woman received a call from her bank and was told there were three suspicious transactions on her credit card totaling over $1,000.

On July 6, officers spoke with a 65-year-old resident from the 1600 block of Old Chatham. The woman said she received a call the day before from from a man with a foreign accent claiming to be an IRS agent.

The phony agent told the woman that she owed $7,000 in back taxes and that she would be arrested if a portion of the money was not paid immediately. He told the woman to purchase $2,000 worth of I-Tunes cards from a store and to tell the cashier that they were for “personal use.”

The woman bought the cards and gave the information to the con artist. The funds from the I-Tunes cards were promptly drained, and it wasn’t until the woman talked to her daughter later in the day that she realized she had been scammed.

On June 29, officers met with a 46-year-old township resident who purchased $10,000 worth of I-Tunes cards to supposedly pay off an IRS debt. Similar to other reports, the woman said she was contacted by a man with a foreign accent who claimed to be an IRS agent.

Edwards said no government agency or reputable business will ever ask for any owed bills to be paid with gift cards. Anyone who receives a suspicious call asking for money should hang up immediately and contact their local police department.